California mountain bikers find booby trap in popular hiking area

SAN DIEGO — Local mountain bikers are sounding the alarm after discovering a dangerous booby trap strung across a popular hiking trail.

The trap was spotted last weekend in the Lake Hodges area, on a trail in San Dieguito River Park. The trap was a strand of rusted barbed wire, heavily disguised by leaf-covered twigs to look like a harmless branch hanging across the trail.

Photos showed “the branch” hanging just below handlebar-level on the trail. County authorities have been notified, according to a Facebook post from the San Diego Mountain Biking Association.